Skate Into My Heart
by kingjonuriaudighfdajkghjfg
Summary: SangoxMiroku. Involves a reality show. Not too much drama or angst. Full summary inside. Rated M just to be on the safe side in the future....
1. Chapter 1

**This Story Needs A New Title**

**Summary: Sango and Inuyasha are best friends living together. Sango is an avid watcher of ice skating, particularly one ice skater: Miroku Kouketsu. Miroku and Kagome Higurashi are both professional skaters who are doing a reality show on Japan's biggest network in which five skaters are chosen to skate with them. When Sango and Inuyasha are chosen, Sango may find out that her idle isn't as great as he seems...or maybe he is. **

**Tera: Well, this is my first attempt at branching out from the highschool scene. Let's see how it goes, shall we?**

**Matt: Please review if you like it.**

**Chapter 1**

"INUYASHA! IT'S STARTING!" Sango Nakamura bellowed out into her apartment.

"CALM DOWN!" the half demon yelled back as his thumping footsteps were heard coming down the hallway and into the bedroom where Sango was lying, stomach down, on a large bed, eyes glued to a TV. Inuyasha handed her a cup of ramen that was significantly smaller than the one in his own hand and sat down on the edge of the mattress.

"I can't believe they're on the local news, this is crazy!" Sango squealed, clutching the auburn bedspread and completely ignoring her ramen.

"Chill out, Sango, they're probably not really there."

Sango frowned at her best friend. "But _Miroku's_ on TV, Inuyasha. _He's on the news in Sapporo_!"

Inuyasha had to chuckle. "It's probably some promotional thing."

Sango turned to give him a Look. "Inuyasha, just shut up until he stops talking, ok?"

The dog demon pretended to look miffed, but couldn't pull it off and gave a good natured growl.

"And here we have our special guests today, professional ice skaters Miroku Kouketsu and Kagome Higurashi, with a special announcement to all of Japan! Here's Sayaka Miharu on the scene." Sango immediately grabbed the remote and cranked the volume up so that Inuyasha's sensitive hearing was almost blown to bits.

"Kami, Sango, turn it down! You see him all the time on TV, you have his performances taped, you'd know his voice if it shouted something in Russian behind you. Does it have to be so damn loud?"

"Sh! He's on!" Sango whispered fiercely, turning it down only slightly. Grumbling, Inuyasha settled back down with his ramen.

"So, Miroku– mind if I call you Miroku?" Sayaka Miharu was doing an excellent job of going into a dither attack at the sight of the lean skater just as every other woman in Japan did.

"Of course, Sayaka." He gave a serene smile, befitting of the casual black sweater he wore, as Sango screamed, causing Inuyasha to wince. Sayaka Miharu giggled as if she was a teenager and not in her early forties, but managed to continue with the piece.

"Anyway–Miroku–" she giggled again, "–what's it been like, touring the world?"

"Hectic," he said and Sango laughed simultaneously with Sayaka while Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "But really, it's quite enjoyable. I mean, I've seen so many places I never thought I'd see and I've learned so much. For instance, did you know that, in Naples, Italy, they have a special police force to make sure the pizza is made correctly?"

"Well no, I didn't, but that's amazing!" Sayaka beamed while Sango stared at the screen, mesmerized.

"And what about you, Miss Higurashi?" The attention was switched to the younger girl standing with him in a black knit sweater to match his.

"It's been fun. We've gotten to meet lots of new people. And I learned some French!" Kagome Higurashi nodded enthusiastically and Miroku chuckled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, she got much more scenery in than I did. I got lots of wallpaper viewing in." He winked at the camera and Sayaka positively screamed with mirth. Sango clutched the bedspread tighter and Inuyasha's eyes rolled again.

"Well, that's enough talk about scenery, let's get to what the viewers are all waiting for!" Sayaka gushed in that way only newscasters can manage.

Sango's nails nearly pierced the quilt and even Inuyasha stopped eating for a minute to watch.

"The viewers are waiting for something?" Miroku asked benignly, looking around as though perplexed and eliciting another laugh from Sayaka Miharu.

"Miroku's bad at speaking," Kagome apologized, grinning and Miroku reluctantly nodded his consent. "Well, on behalf of television across Japan, Jouou Skating has agreed to be the subject of a new reality show in which we teach five lucky people how to skate and perform with us."

That time, Inuyasha actually had to cover his ears to block out the sound of Sango's scream. Kagome continued as though there was a possible way she couldn't have heard the scream of the crazed fan.

"You don't need much experience skating to be on the show. Tryouts in Sapporo will be held at the Kappatsu rink on Sunday, March 4th, at 9 AM sharp. Bring your own skates and flexible clothes. All forms will be there, we can't wait to see you!"

"Well, thank you, Miss Higurashi, that's all the time we have, now back to you, Junko."

"Thanks, Sayaka. Well–" Sango muted the TV and stared at Inuyasha, finally starting on her ramen.

"That's in four days," she said, dazed.

"Yeah, so?"

Sango looked at him. "You'll try out with me, won't you?"

Inuyasha nearly dropped his ramen. Nearly.

"_What_? You don't honestly think we have a chance, do you?"

"Of course not, but Miroku might be at the auditions!" She leaped off the bed, abandoning her ramen which was immediately devoured by Inuyasha, and began throwing things into a bag.

"What the hell are you doing, Sango?" Inuyasha asked.

"Packing a skating bag. We have to go practice. Come on." She looked at him expectantly just as a knock sounded on the door.

Inuyasha's ears pricked up and he smirked.

"Well, that'll be Kikyo. It smells like her. I'm gonna go see what she wants." He walked out of the room, Sango scowling at his back. Now that Kikyo was here, she'd have to wait to go skating if she wanted Inuyasha to come with her.

Sighing, she sat down on the bed next to her open bag, setting her chin on her hands. She hated the fact that she had to share her best friend. Well, no, she didn't hate sharing him with someone he really loved, but she wanted to be able to accept the person.

And she definitely did not accept Kikyo.

The woman was an artificial saint. She never wore dark colors that Sango had ever seen, she always had a holier-than-thou look in her eyes, and she was gentle and helpful. At least, she was gentle and helpful to everyone _but_ Sango. Whenever she saw Sango, no matter that her boyfriend's money came out of _her_ pocket, she always gave her a look filled with disdain, dislike, and mischief.

Whenever Sango was forced to go places with the couple, she made sure to do some good deed, even if it was helping a cat out of a tree. Said cat was often Sango's twin tail, Kirara, who had a knack for attracting attention and getting chased up trees by uppity dogs.

And so, here Sango sat, dreading the sound of her high-pitched, false laugh or her gushing, simpering, voice. But it never came. She heard her front door close with a slight thud, and then there was nothing for quite some time. Inuyasha had probably left with her and would be back in the morning.

Sango sighed again and finished throwing things into her skating bag, zipping it closed with one, dejected hand. Thinking she heard a noise by her bedroom window, she looked up just as Kirara landed lightly in her lap. Sango smiled and stroked her absently.

"Such a smart kitty, opening the window from the outside," Sango cooed, still stroking the cream fur. Kirara purred loudly, masking the soft thump of the apartment door.

She was surprised when Inuyasha came in and flopped down beside her, not making a sound.

"So. What did she do this time to make you speechless?" Sango asked dryly, looking at the window instead of her silent friend. When he still didn't speak, she finally glanced in his direction.

He was not smiling stupidly as she had assumed him to be. Instead, he was staring at the popcorn ceiling, glassy-eyed and disbelieving.

"Inuyasha? What's wrong?"

He didn't answer for quite a long time.

"Kikyo...said she didn't want to see me anymore." Even his usually strong voice was monotonous.

Sango gave a silent cheer, schooling her face into an appropriately sad expression. "Inuyasha, I'm so sorry." She laid back and rested her head in the crook of his shoulder, forcing him to drape his claw across her arm.

"Sango, I was going to propose. Tomorrow."

The impact of what he said hit Sango harder than any material object would have. _She had almost acquired Kikyo as a sister-in-law_. She and Inuyasha were close enough to siblings that the title was appropriate to describe their would-be relationship. She hid her relieved sigh.

"Well, if she didn't love you, it's a good thing you didn't propose."

"She said she loved me. We've been together for over a year. What did I do wrong?" He clenched his fist by her shoulder and bit his lip hard enough to break the skin. Sango wrapped an arm around him comfortingly.

"Nothing. Maybe she realized that she wasn't good enough for you."

"Or maybe she realized that I wasn't good enough for her."

Sango had nothing to say to that, so she was silent for a few minutes.

"Come on, let's go skate," she said eventually.

"Sango, I'm really not in the mood."

"Come on, you big lump. Exercise will do you some good." Coaxing a smile out of him, she dragged him off the bed and out the door, grabbing his skates on the way and stuffing them into her bag.

* * *

**Tera: Well, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review if you did! I promise the next chapters will be longer, this one was just setting things up. Well, unless you like this chapter size...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Nothing owned, no one sued.**

**Tera: Sorry for the wait. Writer's block, you know. Well, here it is. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

"Everyone, please, order, ORDER!" The man running around whacking his pen on his clipboard was no more heard by all the people entering than was each individual conversation. Only Sango and Inuyasha seemed to be paying attention.

"How long do you think this is gonna take?" Inuyasha whined as they leaned against the wall.

"Who knows? I'm getting kind of nervous, are you?" Sango replied, chewing her lip.

"No. I don't really care about it."

"Come on, Inuyasha, we're in this together." She punched him lightly on the shoulder and he returned the affectionate gesture, grinning at her.

"OK, EVERYONE!"

The entire line of skaters jumped and turned to stare at the small man next to the man who had yelled.

"ALL THE WOMEN STAY HERE AND ALL THE MEN GO TO _THAT _RINK. YOU'LL BE ALLOWED TO PRACTICE IN GROUPS. THEY'LL BE GIVING YOU FORMS ONCE YOU'RE THERE!"

As soon as this announcement was made, the chatter started up again. Inuyasha was furious.

"YOU MEAN, I'M BEING DRAGGED HERE AGAINST MY WILL AND I CAN'T EVEN STAND WITH PEOPLE I KNOW?" he roared.

"INUYASHA, WOULD YOU JUST GO?" Sango roared back.

"FINE."

They glared at each other, then Sango laughed. "Good luck, Inuyasha."

"Yeah, yeah. If I'm lucky, they won't pick me. So I have this feeling I'm gonna be _really_ lucky. But thanks anyway." He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and followed the other men to the smaller rink. There were quite a few less men than women.

Sango waited and waited; even in the middle of the list, there were still about a hundred people in front of her.

Finally, the nervous man with a clipboard called the next group of four and "Nakamura Sango!" was amidst it. She grabbed her bag, unexpectedly finding it unnaturally heavy. As she laced up her skates and climbed onto the rink, she thought it was too hot for an ice rink. Her legs were like lead.

Suddenly, she didn't think her lead-legs could skate anymore. When she started to turn around to go back through the door and tell them she was leaving, her legs wouldn't do that either.

Almost too soon, the practice was done and they were being ushered onto yet a third rink and into a hallway beside it.

"We're going to call you two at a time. You'll have time to skate twice around your half of the rink. Be as creative as you want. There will be no music and there should have been no rehearsed routines. Good luck, skaters," a woman came in and told them.

Sango looked around at the other women with her. Only she had not come in a skating dress. Only she did not have perfect makeup accentuating her features. Only she did not have her hair piled in curls on top of her head. She _really_ didn't think she could go through with this.

"First up is Nakamura Sango and Nesshin Koharu." The woman beckoned the two women out and Sango was a little irked to see that Koharu was the youngest and most graceful looking of all. She'd never make it skating next to someone like her.

They got on the rink and a voice from somewhere shouted "BEGIN!" so she put one foot on the ice and pushed, sending herself sailing. She skated around the rink as artfully as she could, pushing with one foot and then the next, occasionally skating on only one foot, but only for a few seconds. After her second round, she wasn't sure how much time she had left, so she figured that she should do The Big Move soon.

When she could align herself with a wall, she bent her knees further and twisted, effectively turning herself backward. She inwardly cheered; it had taken her hours of straight practicing to get that down.

Once facing the wrong way (and noticing that Koharu was switching back and forth like it was nothing), she began to skate again, gaining more confidence as she went along. Finally, and she was sure her time was almost up, she got the courage to skate backwards on one foot. Steeling herself for the move, she slowly lifted up her left leg.

Without realizing it, she straightened out the knee of her remaining leg. She tried to recapture her balance, but backwards, she just wasn't good enough. Her skate shifted and she toppled over on her side, face heavy with embarrassment. Through her bangs, she could see Koharu executing a perfect spin and then time was called. She could have cried, she was so horrified. Not only did she fall terribly, but she hadn't even gotten to glimpse Miroku. This had all been for nothing.

Dragging herself off the ice, she picked her bag off a bleacher and exited, taking the complimentary pen she had used to fill out forms and walking out to find Inuyasha.

Meanwhile, on the other side of a wall, a tall, lean man in a black knit sweater raised his out-of-place sunglasses and looked at the man standing next to him.

"She's perfect."

* * *

Both sat at the kitchen table in their apartment, eating bowls of hot soup and sharing a plate of gyouza. Both were a bit dejected but both were just glad they were home. 

Neither had brought up the afternoon yet. It had been a silent agreement that they would ignore it. But Sango couldn't anymore.

"How did you do?"

Inuyasha chuckled. "Well, at least I didn't fall. I skated around a bit, watched the other guy do some fancy twirls, decided not even to try, and just went around the rink. I don't think they liked me."

Sango sighed.

"I fell."

"No way."

"Yeah. I was skating next to this girl, this gorgeous girl, in a pretty skating outfit with a perfect face and perfect hair and perfect abilities. And I tried to go backwards on one foot. And I fell on my side. And then they called time."

"Aw, well, we didn't think we'd get in. Did you get to see what's-his-name at least?"

Sango miserably shook her head and Inuyasha sighed, both of them going back to their soup.

They ate in silence for awhile, neither really feeling like talking, until the phone rang.

"Wonder who that could be?" Sango asked no one in particular as she got up to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Nakamura Sango?"

"Yes...?" Sango replied, cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder as she went back to the table.

"Hello! Then this also must be where Komon Inuyasha lives?"

"Yes, it is. Can I help you?"

"No, but I think I can help you!"

"Oh? Is that so? If this is a sales call, speak quickly because I'm hanging up in thirty seconds." Inuyasha snorted into his ramen, loving the phone etiquette of his roommate which mirrored his own.

"I assure you this is _not_ a sales call and that you _don't_ wish to hang up!"

"I'm telling you now, I didn't give your organization any money last year and I'm not giving any this year."

"We're not asking for money! Miss Nakamura, I'm calling to say congratulations!"

Sango halted in mid-retort. "What? Congratulations? Did I win the lottery? Are you here to call me and say that I never have to worry about rent again?"

"No, I am not. Please, Miss Nakamura, listen to me. I'm calling to congratulate you on the selection of you as one of our five contestants!"

"Five...what have I entered recently? Is this one of those random drawings?" Sango was quite befuddled by now.

"Were you not skating this afternoon at Kappatsu Rink?"

"Yes...but...Wait...No...Oh my g-d. You're not serious. I didn't–this is a prank– who is this really?"

"My name's Suteki Kagura and I'm a representative of the Jouou Skating Company and I'm here to tell you that you and Komon Inuyasha have been chosen to skate."

"Tell me everything I need to know. Quickly!"

Kagura laughed. "That's more like it! At ten AM on March 19, you'll need to be at the rink you skated at this afternoon. Jouou will transport you to their own rink from there. Bring skates and comfortable clothes to skate in. Come casually, you will be meeting the stars. Be prompt, or the Jouou transportation will leave without you."

"Thanks, is that all?"

"That's all! Any–" Sango hung up before the woman could complete her sentence. In a daze, she set the phone down and looked at Inuyasha.

"What?"

"WE MADE IT!" she screeched.

* * *

**Tera: How'd ya like it, huh? I think in the next chapter, we will get to know Miroku better. **

**Matt: Yes. Miroku. And now, for the reviews!**

**Tera: Yes, reviews!**

**Kyuusai: -steals some popcorn- I shall save it for after passover! -saves it in the recesses of cyberspace- Anyway, I'm glad you enjoy this one. You read HRoaH, right?**

**Boomerang Butterfly: Ew, I hate Kikyo. That's why they broke up, heh. I love AU. I just don't really see much of the point of continuing some storylines with fanfiction...:shrug: Unless you give it an OC...which I've discovered that most people dislike -frown-**

**Yami John: Still not gonna write out your whole name. Yeah, I really hated that my first AU fic was so cliche and was quite anxious to start a new one. But I've really grown attached to HRoaH...**

**T-person: -gives you an award- Glad to see you! Err, enjoy your coffee!**

**fumoffu07: -frown- In all fairness, it was the first chapter. But I love having loyal fans! I've never had them before! -gooey eyed-**

**Demon Exterminator Barbie: Glad you think it's off to such a good start!**

**ShippouSangoffe: Eh, she's not girly. She's barely been characterized yet -wink-. She just happens to like Miroku.**

**fanficluv7inu: Ahahaha, when you said "kik yo ass Kikyo," it made me giggle...cuz "kik yo" and "Kikyo" are the same...'cept "kik yo" has a space...-giggles more-**

**F.E.H.: For-chan, I'm not taking the time to write out your entire name. FEH will suffice. ALL HAIL THE CULT OF KIKYO BASHERS! HOOWAH! -eats your hand-**

**lilyhawk: Your review (and another author) was actually what inspired me to attempt to plow through my writer's block. Usually, I try and leave whatever story is troubling me alone until I can get back to it, but...somehow..I was just...inspired! Thank you!**

**Matt: So, that's it. We conclude our review responses! And, by the way, I am NOT Tera's boyfriend. Don't think such revolting thoughts.**

**Tera:...Gee. Thanks. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and, as always, Review! I may be inspired to write faster if you do!**


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